


Alongside Cleopatra and Achilles

by Cinnamaldeide



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: All polite conversation and leaving corspes behind, Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Don’t copy to another site, Going to Hell, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03, Revised Version, aesthetic included
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 22:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18061388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnamaldeide/pseuds/Cinnamaldeide
Summary: In hisDivina Commedia, Dante forgot to say that every sinner has a personal keeper in Hell.Written for Lovecrimebooks’ #FannibalsRaiseHell Fanzine





	Alongside Cleopatra and Achilles

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [Another_lost_one](https://archiveofourown.org/users/another_lost_one) for having beta read this work, which will be included in the digital zine Raise Hell, has been written in fact to promote the Ravage campain on Kickstarter and ensure everybody knows about our wonderful fanthology. It will also be included in a book I’m planning to publish ❀

 

Upon regaining consciousness on the strand, cheek bleeding in the rough sand, body soaked to the bones, Will found himself facing the consequences of his own reckless plunge into oceanic waters.

Above his unmoving limbs, the obfuscated sight of Hannibal’s figure covered a mesmerizing full moon. The man wasn’t holding his injured flank, which briefly surprised him, rather offering Will a hand to stand on his own with utmost, inappropriate calm.

His clothes, pristine rather than drenched, were devoid of black patches in the clear light. “We’re dead,” Will uttered, disbelieving. Hopeful to be contradicted.

“Didn’t survive, more precisely,” Hannibal confirmed, quite pleased despite his matching state. “I am here to ensure you find your way among your kind without incident,” he continued with enviable aplomb, words barely filtering Will’s comprehension.   
_ Among my kind _ , Will twisted and turned the words in his mind. The hand was still extended. Will reluctantly accepted it, as well as his unavoidable fate.

Something bothered him more than his own death though.

“I can’t believe you took on his appearance,” Will lamented sourly. “Of all the people to escort me to hell, it had to be him.”

His remark elicited a private smirk. “Hannibal Lecter has been similarly matched with his own keeper, who I expect resembles your own shape,” faux-Hannibal informed him, turning to trail the line drawn on the shore by each oncoming and ongoing wave. “You’ll receive your treatment from me for the foreseen future, I anticipated you’d appreciate the irony,” he said affably, undoubtedly devising Will’s long, agonizing torment at a guess. Will still followed suit, leaving Hannibal’s and his own unresponsive corpse behind without further delay. A fading reality already.

“What do I call you?” Will inquired, guessing his self-proclaimed keeper shared Hannibal’s fastidiousness for courtesy. “You move like him, you talk like him, you probably eat and think like him, which I presume is part of my punishment,” Will said, “but you’re not Hannibal, are you.”

“I am in fact,” he stated. “To explain my point, I shall warn you beforehand, the perspective most humans adopt to understand your current circumstances is rather inadequate, if understandably so. Death can be transcended, the underworld is always eager to increase its legions of damned and corrupted. After having impersonated the counterpart of your,” he paused, moistened his lips, “let’s call it ‘controversial friendship,’ I joined my fellows, discarding my human suit. Souls are timeless and insubstantial, mine is simultaneously here and elsewhere, as is yours in another space and time. We returned part of our ancestral design.”

Will frowned, remained quiet in contemplation. It was indeed a lot to digest, and his mind was still wrapping around his own demise. “Is this about atoning for my sins?” he finally enquired, after having found his footing again. “I presume suicides have their own special place.”

Surf gently wiped their footsteps clean, inspiring a sense of unaccomplishment.

“Dante would have placed you among the lustfuls, alongside Cleopatra and Achilles, for passion dictated your action. Alas, Dante wasn’t dead when he wrote the Commedia,” he remarked. “His classification didn’t consider our inmates tend to sin on several levels at once, shall we say.”

_ Hannibal must be so disappointed _ , Will thought despite himself. “Much like myself,” he guessed.

“Indeed.” Dangerous eyes languidly trespassed Will. “Hannibal will pay for his deeds, to each crime its own sentence, but you’ll experience your own damnation in your blissful sufferance. Not without reason,” he concluded, “do I look like him.”

•

Hannibal could have mistaken their surroundings for an antique church, severe and beautiful and timeless, and the chairs upon which Will and himself sat for those of his former office in Baltimore, were it not for the three-headed demon crying beside them.

“I assumed you’d want to look at this ‘reminder of mortality’ of yours,” asserted Will, or an exact replica of his dear, cunning boy. “To draw comparison,” he teased.

Hannibal’s eyes glistened in the warm light. “Shall I assume you’ll escort me in my last journey?” he asked. “Despite your endeavours, we remained conjoined even in death.”

Will’s amused smirk, however, warned Hannibal to brace himself for another long, inconceivable pining.

**Author's Note:**

> Theological issues aside, I hope you enjoyed the reading :>  
> I wasn’t kidding about the book. Let me know if you’re interested, or if you spot errors I should fix.  
> [Find me elsewhere](https://cinnamaldeide.carrd.co). [Post on Twitter](https://twitter.com/cinnamaldeide/status/1169262847110590464?s=20).


End file.
